Saying “I don’t know” is not only an underappreciated skill, it is actually viewed as a weakness by many if not most. But, the power of admitting to oneself “I don’t know” is immense. We actually need to have “I don’t know” pioneers. It is a work of compassion to spread the joy and health benefits of “I don’t know”. It is like any nucleating phenomenon; we need to have a critical mass before it can really take off and flourish. We all know that we don’t know but we have been conditioned to reject this. I can’t foretell the future. I don’t know which path is best. And I’m no different than you or a politician or your financial advisor. I don’t know if I should say yes or no to many of the requests from my daughter. I don’t know. It is so powerful, so true, so readily available to us all. Practice with me. “I don’t know!”
It is not a question of whether or not we know, it is just a question of whether we can first admit to ourselves that we don’t know, and hopefully eventually proudly to exclaim this to the world. What is the best way to achieve mid-East peace, reduce childhood obesity, or reclaim a balanced sustainable national budget? I don’t know. BUT I am willing to listen and think and act. I am willing to speak and change my mind and acquire new data and throw it all away and start again. I am willing to be wrong as well as to be right. I have to be willing to fail if I am to hope that I can ever do anything but fail.
Deep down I think most of us really get this. We all really know and feel that there is so little that we understand, so many variables, so many interdependent relationships. But, who do we revere? We idolize the self-assured politician, athlete, and business leader. We so often would rather sail right off a cliff alongside a charismatic and confident figure than sit near the edge and just think, or better yet take a nap.
Will the world be better off or not if I recycle this single aluminum can? Should my team go for it on fourth down? Should we punt on second down?
But this is where probability and statistics and math and weak nuclear forces and truth come into play. The sun really should rise tomorrow morning. But I don’t know. I should be able to safely drive to the grocery store, but there are literally a million things that could go wrong. It is all connected. There is no single best path. The seed of good is always contained in every act of malevolence. We cannot simultaneously know the exact position and exact direction of anything. We can all always do better yet everything is perfect-ish all the time. Should you continue reading and thinking and growing and loving? I don’t know; but I think so!
